One of the Same-Episode One-Discovery (IC)

[Zeinbrad]

Part One-The Tuarian Rebellion.

“We have been hired by the Gaians to suppress a rebellion on the planet of Tuari. This is expected to be an easy job, more of a warm up exercise-Captain.”

“Existing Hyperspace” A robotic voice came from Bessie’s AI, dubbed Poseidon by the crew. The blue vortex that engulfed the Bessie faded away and Bessie’s shields began to recharge to one hundred percent.Captain Miua leaned back in his chair, drinking a cup of coffee while staring out the bridge of the Bessie.Well looks like we have arrived he mused as he stretched and stood up from his chair giving command back to Grach as he walked towards the hanger of the Bessie, letting the bridge doors close behind him before continuing. As he walked he passed through the medical bay of the Bessie, taking a minute to greet the wounded and make sure they were okay.Only one was in critical condition. Ra’sm a Milirian that got most of his body destroyed by a artillery shell, he was scheduled to be put off life support soon and given a Wao burial. For now, he was in a medical tank in a coma that he shall never awake from.

Leaving the medical bay he finally arrived at the hangar, with his selected team geared up and ready to go. There was twelve of them, ready to board a shuttle but Miua had something to say first, as per tradition.

He stood in front of them, inspecting their posture and readiness before deciding it was satisfactory and began the briefing.

“Okay my weans , we have a new contract from the Gaians. Thanks to the Gaians losing the war with the Ragon and the homefront getting increasingly worse they are facing rebellions. Do to them having to keep troops on the frontline they are hiring mercenaries like us to deal with the little rebels lead by some eejit named Cryus. Our contract states that we will help the GDF take out the rebels hold up in a fort holding off the offensive that will end this rebellion.” He said as he brought out a holodisk, pressing a button a hologram of the rebel fort appeared.

“They call it Fort Meca, it was the original settlers refuge before they made towns and cities, this fort is heavily armored and guarded. But-” He then pressed another button to make a red dot appear at a part of the fort, a sewer.

“Theres an sewer leading straight into weapon systems. If we can infiltrate and take out the systems this job is over.” He finished.

"Any questions? No? Good, get in the shuttle.”

Twenty minutes later.

The shuttle came into view of the base. It’s pilot asking for permission to land. The clearance came and a landing landing signal officer came out, making motions with his two red flags to guide the shuttle onto a landing pad. As the shuttle touched down the ramp opened, letting the Wao warriors walk out to a officer and two soldiers waiting for them.

“Looks like they have arrived” The officer said, waving his hand as he walked towards a building. The Head quarters were his commanding officer was.

As they walk through the base to the HQ the sound of artillery became more noticeable as the officer passed the Howitzers firing on the rebel fort. The planet was mostly forest, like the forest of Pennsylvania but a little bigger. The base was mostly makeshift, with sandbags and emplacements mounted everywhere.

[Qeno]

One of Bessie's hangar bays

A long black transport sat within the depths of one of Bessie's hangar bays surrounded by crew members scurrying around the room the ship is stored and secretly carrying another within it's protective hull. On the exterior of the ship was inscribed the name 'Redemption' and contained two known occupants with their occupations as pilots having an assumed specialization of transporting cargo to an fro from a pair of given points. One of the occupants named Reyna watched as the recent shuttle flight entered the planet's surface then disappear beyond scanner frequency and the room she watched from was illuminated only by the light of the navigation console.

She took a deep breath and remembered her actions within the past day. The destruction of their homes and the death of her partner's family before an attempt at her life then the two became partners before finding the ship looking for some extra crew members. Reyna began to wander alone in the darkness of the Redemption before laying down on the sofa next to the main access hatch and nodding off for a nap.

[Len Hyet]

Lung Tien Xiang walked out of the hangar bay of Bessie, still partially unable to reconcile himself with the name of the ship. A ship should be named something fierce, especially a Wao ship. Take for example Xiang's personal ship, the Valkyrie. She was sleek and deadly, silent in the vacuum of space and capable of sudden, brutal violence. Equally capable at long range and up close and personal, she was as much a ship as an extension of Xiang's being. It just boggled the mind that anyone, even a Scotsman, could name his ship Bessie.

Still, he wasn't the captain. It wasn't his ship. His long rifle clipped to his back, and his longsword clipped to his hip, his visible weapons and armor marked him as a Wao warrior. The symbols on his armor, the Holy and the Wolf, marked him as a man of faith, who preferred to hunt his enemy down silently until the moment of the kill, an expert marksman and deadly close quarters fighter. One of his favorite tenants of the Wao way was burned into the vambraces on his armor. Victory with Honor. It was a tricky one. Some thought it mean that Victory came through honor, and that even defeat on the battlefield could be a triumph of honor. Others thought it meant honor came through victory, no matter the cost. The third interpretation was that Victory without honor was meaningless. Xiang subscribed to the third interpretation.

He looked around the base, noting gun emplacements, patrols, and the state of the soldiers. Many seemed in low spirits, a sentiment Xiang could share. In this universe it was truly shameful to fight one's own brothers, with the horrors out there more than willing to kill both sides of a conflict. Still, he was Wao, and the internal conflicts of the Gaians only troubled him when he was payed to be troubled by them. He was being paid to be troubled now.

[Congreveopia]

Henricks walked through the base with the group. He was in a dog-like quadropedal configuration with four strong, but slow and unagile legs. On his back was a large portion of the group’s gear for the operation. It weighed quite a bit, but he didn’t feel pain unless he chose to, and tiredness was linked to his power meter, which was mostly full, and he’d top it up right before the operation anyways. Carrying heavy stuff always drained power, but nowhere near as much as other things like energy weapons did. He drew his power from onboard batteries, which he could charge from pretty much any source, be it a wall outlet or a laser rifle’s battery clip, and his small internal generator could sustain his vital functions for decades assuming he could get air about every half-hour, water every week, and nutrients every month. It just didn’t generate much surplus power.

As he walked across the rough ground, occasionally shaken by the blast of a nearby cannon firing, he thought about his current configuration. It never got any less weird to be in a body that wasn’t human. He got better at controlling different forms the more he used them, but he never felt quite right without two arms, two legs and a head. At least all of his parts felt like human parts right now. It was worse when he had a turret or wheels or something. It still didn’t feel like he was in a human body, though. It felt like he had four arms with feet on the ends. He wondered what form he’d decide take during the operation. He almost certainly wouldn’t be human regardless. When he got back to Bessie, he’d need to take a nice long jog around the ship in human form. He snapped out of his thoughts when he realised they had arrived at the base’s HQ. He increased the amount detail to be saved by his recorders in preparation for a briefing, and walked in.

[Post War America]

Ty'Lissa stepped off the transport. The bright sun reflected off her white flesh, causing a burning sensation. She immediately realized that being on this world, like the others would be inappropriate to continue helmetless and put hers on. It was covered it sigils of the Lost, dozens of them as a constant reminder of Ty'Lissa weakness and failure, and an advertisement of her desire to destroy those who caused it. This was a world at war, one that actually fought over its fate. This could be one worth fighting for, assuming the price was right... and especially if the Ragon were here for the hunting, backing this rebellion against the Gaians. Ty'Lissa walked along awaiting the chance to take her helmet off.

[Harbertia]

A creature like a human, but not human stepped off a bit faster then Ty'Lissa. It had a tail, bushy, almost fox like, yet years similar to a terrestrial lemur. It's body was slim, and the chest was generally flat. The creatures uncovered eye was larger then a humans, and slit giving it a cat like quality that surveyed the scenery around the group. Taking a intemidating glace towards Henricks as it passed.

This was Karen. In hand, was an ET-12 Carbine. It passed the two with ease knowing it's role in the mission before settling a pace to the side, and behind Xiang with her rifle ready. Her ears where turning to gather in as much of the surrounding as possible. The sound of artilery vibrated into her head. The creature's ears shot back to snuff the noise, before the one further from the shells rose to remain active.

Those who had spent anytime with Karen would understand the Carbine wasn't her weapon of choice, but it was a weapon to be used. There is no such thing as a bad weapon. The Protector army, always seemed bulky, and restrictive to her. Her's had a image of dragonic serpent biting it's own tail in red upon the chest plate. She didn't have gauntlets, and her gloves where fingerless.

[Vancon]

Music:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAnK8rress0

Through the glass window's of Bessie's Bridge the ship-hands could see their target, a lone ball of life beneath them rotating along with it's clouds and atmosphere was an everyday sight for these men and women but it still didn't not amaze them. Slowly the system's star shone over the horizon. Bolts of light flooded the room as the windows started to automatically tint. Solar panels on the outside turned towards the light and started to charge. Antenna arrays extended from the full and the cannons deactivated. Now that they were in safe territory, the crew of Bessie had time to relax and turn the ship back into what it's supposed to be, a long distance freighter. The hangars had their gravity generators turned off and soon the ships were ready for immediate departure it needed. Her mighty engines, all ten of them, slowed as the ship fell into an orbit of the planet below them. The blue hull of the ship stood out like a sore thumb among the star filled vacuum around them.

A man walked through the double doors leading to the bridge from the uplift nearby and was soon met with a familiar greeting.
"XO on deck!" shouted the helms man
"Stand down" replied the old man.
The man looked around and came to the conclusion that all the orbiting procedures have been met and slowly walked over to a trio of chairs and sat in the right one, as usual. He scratched his face and found his most prized item, his beard. the majesticness of it filled the room with charisma as he sat down to take over the evening command watch.
"Officer of the watch, I want a status report on all systems everything must be perfect for when the captain arrives."

The old man was forwarded a document and in turn he puled up a hologram of the list. But just before he saw the contents, he was able to get a glimpse of the reflection of his name tag, Grach. Once it loaded, he looked at the contents list.

"Right so we have all 240 cannons offline and 40 of those are down for maintenance. All ten engines slowed down to cruising speed. Each one of the 60 solar panels are charging and the antenna array is extended for planet-side communications. Good Good Good. Ladies and gentlemen, you're free to relax for a bit."

[Zeinbrad]

One of Bessie's hangar bays

A long black transport sat within the depths of one of Bessie's hangar bays surrounded by crew members scurrying around the room the ship is stored and secretly carrying another within it's protective hull. On the exterior of the ship was inscribed the name 'Redemption' and contained two known occupants with their occupations as pilots having an assumed specialization of transporting cargo to an fro from a pair of given points. One of the occupants named Reyna watched as the recent shuttle flight entered the planet's surface then disappear beyond scanner frequency and the room she watched from was illuminated only by the light of the navigation console.

She took a deep breath and remembered her actions within the past day. The destruction of their homes and the death of her partner's family before an attempt at her life then the two became partners before finding the ship looking for some extra crew members. Reyna began to wander alone in the darkness of the Redemption before laying down on the sofa next to the main access hatch and nodding off for a nap.

Miua came into the hanger the Redemption was being held in and looked at the vessel. It looked to be a transport, Chariot Class. The transport used by the Gaian's to evacuate civilians from planets. A officer walked up to him with a scanner in his hands.

"Sir" The officer said out of respect.

"Any life signs on that ship?" Miua asked.

"Yes sir, two." The officer nodded. Miua looked at the ship for a second before speaking.

"Get a team to find them" He ordered, with the officer nodding.

Five minutes later the Wao made their way through the ship, nigh vision on and carbines checking each corner. They came to Reyna with the lead Wao pointing at her.

"Jimmy, check her" He ordered.

"Yes sir" Jimmy went, holstering his carbine and getting out a medical scanner for injuries on Reyna.

[Zeinbrad]

The Wao planetside made it to the Gaian HQ. A small wooden cabin with some improvised equipment surrounding it. Including a communication officer using a picnic table to support his equipment. The Wao leader* entered the cabin but no before speaking.

"This is officers only, sorry. Go interact or get some last minute practice in, I'll beep once I'm done" He said before entering the cabin.

Now the planetside crew had several things to visit. To their left and down a small path was the mess hall. Which was currently serving stew and mash potato's with milk, straight was the howitzers and snipers trying to pick off rebel troops, right besides them was the shooting range with an obstacle course. To the right and up a small hill was a R&R lounge with various games and non-alcoholic drinks. Each of these the Wao warriors had clearance to go too.

[Post War America]

TyLissa regarded the situation. The camp was poorly organized, mess hall and practice areas right near the firing line. It would cause too many incidental casualties when the rebels attempted to take out the artillery on the firing line. Ty'Lissa opted to stand right where she was... outside the door, and to inspect her weapons before acting further. She gave the carbine a quick look over and then set it aside, it was merely in her possession as a standard issue weapon, one that was used only under the principle of "no such thing as a bad weapon". She greatly preferred to kill up close where she could feel her prey's body quiver under her blade strike, and she could see the light leave their eyes as she clove them open like a fish. Ty'Lissa then decided to inspect her real weapons. She pulled out the first, a standard issue vibroblade hefted it, checked it over, and turned it on, it looked okay, so she put it aside.

TyLissa realized that she was safely under cover away from the son, so she yanked the helmet off, letting her face feel the air, something the suit's stuffy helmet would not allow, then off came the gloves, so as to feel the other two blades with her own hands. The left was burned... a scar from a clan brand, the clan Ty of Alpha Metraxis, she had put that brand there as a symbol of what was lost, and to allow all of her ancestors to grip the blade with her when striking down a foe. She pulled out her longest blade, which was about half as long as she, it was a vibroblade as well, of Metraxi make... a rarity in the galaxy since the burning of her planet. She had it commissioned upon joining the WAO, by one of the few remaining Metraxi bladesmiths. It shone brilliantly despite being shaded. She was much more careful with this blade upon inspection turning it to a side to show the name etched onto it. All Metraxi blades had names, as part of a custom, and to allow the spirit of the blade to be passed on even when its bearer fell. This one bore the name Kylanxi Ragonii or in the Gaian tongue Planet Razer, she spent the next five minutes carefully looking for any damage and upon finding not set it aside which left one last blade.

This one was also of Metraxi make, the sister blade to Planet Razer. This one was shorter, with its dorsal section made of a fine black metal, a rare metal found only on planets in the Metraxis system. This one held the name Daklaxi or Vengeance. It was this blade for which the brand was placed, the tool by which Ty'Lissa would be allowed to get her revenge for the ravaging of her home the destruction of her people, and her familial clan. It was the last stroke of a dying master whose last commission would allow the Children of a Dead world to make their rage felt one last time. This blade, Ty'Lissa kept meticulously clean and in perfect condition, not for the common Gaian was this blade. Vengeance would only be used against the killers of her home, the Ragon. Still she went through the long process of making absolutely sure nothing marred the surface of the blade and that it functioned in perfect form.

With her weapons inspected, she carefully re-holstered each so as not to confuse them in battle, and then placed her helmet back on her head, along with the gauntlets. She waited outside the cabin for the beep.

[Qeno]

One of Bessie's hangar bays

A long black transport sat within the depths of one of Bessie's hangar bays surrounded by crew members scurrying around the room the ship is stored and secretly carrying another within it's protective hull. On the exterior of the ship was inscribed the name 'Redemption' and contained two known occupants with their occupations as pilots having an assumed specialization of transporting cargo to an fro from a pair of given points. One of the occupants named Reyna watched as the recent shuttle flight entered the planet's surface then disappear beyond scanner frequency and the room she watched from was illuminated only by the light of the navigation console.

She took a deep breath and remembered her actions within the past day. The destruction of their homes and the death of her partner's family before an attempt at her life then the two became partners before finding the ship looking for some extra crew members. Reyna began to wander alone in the darkness of the Redemption before laying down on the sofa next to the main access hatch and nodding off for a nap.

Miua came into the hanger the Redemption was being held in and looked at the vessel. It looked to be a transport, Chariot Class. The transport used by the Gaian's to evacuate civilians from planets. A officer walked up to him with a scanner in his hands.

"Sir" The officer said out of respect.

"Any life signs on that ship?" Miua asked.

"Yes sir, two." The officer nodded. Miua looked at the ship for a second before speaking.

"Get a team to find them" He ordered, with the officer nodding.

Five minutes later the Wao made their way through the ship, nigh vision on and carbines checking each corner. They came to Reyna with the lead Wao pointing at her.

"Jimmy, check her" He ordered.

"Yes sir" Jimmy went, holstering his carbine and getting out a medical scanner for injuries on Reyna.

Reyna's ears felt like they were twitching as she heard footsteps and a quiet voice in the darkness. She started to contemplate the odds of them having weapons and why they were inside the Redemption. The voices felt close as if they were standing right next to her reclined body ready to snatch her and do whatever psychotic pirates do with hostages.

Her legs tensed as she waited for the footsteps to move away from her so that she could make her move and keep the group from reaching the child sleeping in the quarters near the cockpit. Inside the child's room Sora was surrounded with light as an interface to the holonet flashed with an array of colors and music played from an ambient sound system that could have been set up with the rest of the ship but Reyna protested against her idea. She was playing a recently marketed first person shooter game that came to market on a computer hooked up to the ship board computers.

[Segmentia]

Why had she signed up with mercenaries? Asilis asked herself that almost constantly. She really hadn't thought this one through enough, but then again, Gaian agents had been in hot pursuit, and the only way she had available was to join up and fly away on a Wao ship. That was years ago, so she could have left any time she wanted, so why hadn't she? She shook the thought from her mind, and it as replaced by rage.

It was bad enough working with a bunch of inferiors, doubly so for being mercenaries, a shame she'd probably never live down, but now they were working for Gaians? And not just some rich Gaian or something, but the bloody Republic of Gaia. It was like a knife to the gut, and she knew what that felt like. She wanted to kill some one, very painfully so. But she at least had the self control to not too. She had an image to maintain, and an identity to hide, after all. Thankfully most people kept clear of her. After all, she was the cold hearted nephilim bitch who liked to electrocute people.

She looked around the camp, a disgusted frown in her lips. This place was ass-backwards and just asking to be wiped out. Her fingers curled into a fist and she took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. She followed the group a few steps behind them. Her armor had no markings on it, just a slim suit of black armor, covered over with a long black trench coat, the good of the coat lowered for now, showing off her pale skin and very short hair.

When the officer said they had to wait, she rolled her eyes and waited to see what the others were doing.

[Harbertia]

TyLissa regarded the situation. The camp was poorly organized, mess hall and practice areas right near the firing line. It would cause too many incidental casualties when the rebels attempted to take out the artillery on the firing line. Ty'Lissa opted to stand right where she was... outside the door, and to inspect her weapons before acting further. She gave the carbine a quick look over and then set it aside, it was merely in her possession as a standard issue weapon, one that was used only under the principle of "no such thing as a bad weapon". She greatly preferred to kill up close where she could feel her prey's body quiver under her blade strike, and she could see the light leave their eyes as she clove them open like a fish. Ty'Lissa then decided to inspect her real weapons. She pulled out the first, a standard issue vibroblade hefted it, checked it over, and turned it on, it looked okay, so she put it aside.

TyLissa realized that she was safely under cover away from the son, so she yanked the helmet off, letting her face feel the air, something the suit's stuffy helmet would not allow, then off came the gloves, so as to feel the other two blades with her own hands. The left was burned... a scar from a clan brand, the clan Ty of Alpha Metraxis, she had put that brand there as a symbol of what was lost, and to allow all of her ancestors to grip the blade with her when striking down a foe. She pulled out her longest blade, which was about half as long as she, it was a vibroblade as well, of Metraxi make... a rarity in the galaxy since the burning of her planet. She had it commissioned upon joining the WAO, by one of the few remaining Metraxi bladesmiths. It shone brilliantly despite being shaded. She was much more careful with this blade upon inspection turning it to a side to show the name etched onto it. All Metraxi blades had names, as part of a custom, and to allow the spirit of the blade to be passed on even when its bearer fell. This one bore the name Kylanxi Ragonii or in the Gaian tongue Planet Razer, she spent the next five minutes carefully looking for any damage and upon finding not set it aside which left one last blade.

This one was also of Metraxi make, the sister blade to Planet Razer. This one was shorter, with its dorsal section made of a fine black metal, a rare metal found only on planets in the Metraxis system. This one held the name Daklaxi or Vengeance. It was this blade for which the brand was placed, the tool by which Ty'Lissa would be allowed to get her revenge for the ravaging of her home the destruction of her people, and her familial clan. It was the last stroke of a dying master whose last commission would allow the Children of a Dead world to make their rage felt one last time. This blade, Ty'Lissa kept meticulously clean and in perfect condition, not for the common Gaian was this blade. Vengeance would only be used against the killers of her home, the Ragon. Still she went through the long process of making absolutely sure nothing marred the surface of the blade and that it functioned in perfect form.

With her weapons inspected, she carefully re-holstered each so as not to confuse them in battle, and then placed her helmet back on her head, along with the gauntlets. She waited outside the cabin for the beep.

The creature, Karen, watched having separated her self from Xiang. Early on Karen had noted some similarity is spirit between her, and this Metraxi called Ty'Lissa. As the Metraxi re-holstered Karen turned her gaze so as not to challenge nor intermediate. Both preferred the thrill of melee over the impersonal fire of a carbine. To Karen, Ty'Lissa was also predator, and thus as a Predator, and a Wao deserved some level of respect. However unlike Karen, Ty'Lissa preferred to use tools for the kill, where Karen had trained her body to be the weapon.

[Len Hyet]

Lung Tien Xiang looked at the rest of the mercenaries, many of whom tried far too hard to put on a tough exterior, shrugged, and made his way towards the mess. One of his teachers had once told him that you could tell a veteran from a rookie by looking in his rucksack. Rookies carried extra ammo. Veterans carried extra food. Lung Tien Xiang was a veteran of conflicts across the galaxy, and the prospect of real Gaian food for the first time in months made his mouth water. He took off his helmet, revealing startlingly non oriental features for his name. The couple who had adopted him after he was given to the Wao had been oriental, and renamed him as such. Literally his name meant Dragon Heaven Auspicious, a better translation however was Favored Dragon of Heaven. Not really a fearsome mercenary name, but Xiang didn't consider himself a scary mercenary. Professional yes, but scary? It was just so, droll. Scary mercenaries got killed, fast. Likable, charming mercenaries got more contracts, had better contacts, and while it didn't exactly stop betrayals, it certainly made the other person feel a twinge of remorse.

Helmet under his arm, Xiang walked into the mess hall, smiling broadly at the cooks and enlisted men eating. He cheerfully got into line and took some hot dogs, french fries, two sandwiches, a large chocolate shake, and a slice of cake. When your daily training regimen burned a few thousand calories in addition to your two thousand a day, concepts like portion control and "healthy eating" went out the window. A few soldiers gave him appreciative looks, they understood exactly what was going through Xiang's mind. He sat at a table and began to tear into the food with one hand, and shoved the two wrapped sandwiches into his bag for later. You never knew when you'd get stranded behind lines and be damn glad you brought a meal.

[Orles]

Exiting the craft significantly later than the other mercenaries on the ground, Oriana had taken the time to dress in full humanoid Protector armor so as not to frighten the Gaian soldiers. There may be a huge multitude of Viator throughout the universe, but in these systems they were still few and far between. A few tendrils were permitted to snake out of Oriana's helmet, enabling it to survey the base. Oriana had learned enough about military strategy to see the woefully poor design of the area. A shooting range and obstacle course directly next to live-firing weaponry was bound to cause some injuries. It would be easy for a less-accurate rebel to aim for the howitzers and take out the range. Surveying the rest of the area, Oriana found nothing to interest it. Food was not a concern, and the R&R lounge seemed to Oriana that it would be an obvious target for rebel fire, as it was on a hill and therefore exposed. Oriana chose to walk towards the planetside crew, who it saw leaving the Gaian headquarters, rather than continue to survey the poorly designed camp.

[The Orson Empire]

Gornussani stepped off of the shuttle onto the planet of Tuari. Gornus was dressed in his armor, with a Type-75 Semi-Automatic Rifle strapped to his back. It was a Ragon weapon, and it was his favorite, as he had customized it with another feature that could turn it into a sniper rifle at the flip of a switch, and it worked by extending the barrel and using more energy than normal to fire at a longer range. He also had a Mka Vibrosword attached to his back, and he was wearing an ammo belt which held ammo and grenades.

Gornus looked around, noticing is picturesque landscape. However, he also saw that the camp they had landed at was abysmal. It was poorly organized. Gornus never understood why the Gaians were so terrible at building defenses. No wonder they were losing the war with the Ragon. Nevertheless, Gornus still couldn't believe that he was now working with the Gaians. Just 3 years ago, he had been fighting them when the 2nd Gaian-Ragon War broke out. But, he had been shot by a Gaian sniper, and took the opportunity to defect. Gornus could only imagine what his former Ragon comrades were up to. With all of the recent Ragon victories, he knew that they were excited.

Gornus could hear the booming of the howitzers straight ahead, as they tried to destroy the rebel forces. The sound reminded him of the artillery bombardments he experienced back when he was in the Ragon Military. He absolutely hated artillery bombardments. Nevertheless, Gornus walked straight ahead to the battle, as he wanted to see what exactly was going on.

[The Moon States]

Aria looked at the monitors and the nearing planet from her Talon Fighter/Bomber. The planet was a lush green garden world, habitable to almost all of the galaxies known alien species, but it was just another rock in space to Aria. No love for staying in a single place she couldn't care less if a planet got glassed or if it was taken by either the empire remnants the republic or some stinking rebels, all she cared about was her next paycheck and whenever the Wao needed her, given they saved her from a much worse life, in a general sense but it was still the Wao.

Aria cleared with the control and began her descent into the lower atmosphere of the planet. Having passed the larger more impressive Mao shuttles still stuck in space due to gravitational constrains Aria was glad her little Talon could go into all but the highest gravity worlds, which to be honest was never a place that was needed to go into anyway.

Landing her beloved Tracinya in the Wao FOB among other vessels Aria had to take a moment and decide her gear for this specific terrain. Deciding on a small laser sidearm as well as her MER carbine instead of the larger sniper she had saving that for less brush and a more open enemy. Taking a shortened vibrosword and a motion scanner she secure the Tracinya and headed onto the next shuttle heading to the contractors base and to meet up with the other Wao. Aria was all scowls as she got off of the shuttle and saw the fortifications as well as the weapons that were being used, her own interpretation of the law with weapons was that there were bad weapons but it was a combination of the body being a weapon as well as the gear and to be effective the gear better be quality or the body as the weapon is only half as useful.

[Congreveopia]

Henricks’s first thought was that he wanted to go the obstacle course. It’d give him a nice chance to get back into human form and exercise with it for a bit before the operation. Then again, he could probably help out over at the artillery cannons, but he wasn’t being paid to, so why should he?
“Hmm.” he thought “I suppose I could try to decide if it's ethical to help the Gaians, but ethics aren’t exactly great characteristics for a mercenary. I guess it comes down to what I want to do right now.” He felt the ground shake and heard another blast as one of the heavier cannons fired. “I can exercise any time.” he thought “I want to see what’s doing that.”
He plopped the supplies on the ground, and began swapping out his limbs. He took off the heavy carrying legs, and got into his regular arms legs and head. They were all covered in protector armor plating. He attached protector armor plates to his front and back and grabbed a few pieces of standard gear.

“Okay, you guys can look after this stuff if you’re just staying here.” he said gesturing to the supplies on the ground, and he walked off before anyone could object.

“Hello, boys.” he said walking up to the crew at one of the larger cannons. They looked young for Gaians. Probably drafted, or maybe they’d joined to “defend freedom” or something.

“Good day, sir!” said the leader of the crew, he appeared to think Henricks outranked him, and Henricks wasn’t about to inform him otherwise.

“Carry on.” said Henricks “I’m just here to observe.”

Henricks watched them load and fire one round. While he did that, he also looked up the gun they were using. It was old, but still powerful if you knew how to use it, which these boys evidently didn’t. It had four Gauss rails which could toss a shell out the barrel at well over the speed of sound. At long range, a rocket shell could be used for increased distance at the cost of a smaller warhead, but at these ranges it was capable of launching a frighteningly large shell with an accuracy of a few decimeters. The crew, however was opting to fire the shells randomly over an area about a mile across, in the center of which lay the enemy fort.

“Soldier.” said Henricks “Why are you using Hellmelter rounds?”

“Armoring on that fort is insane, sir!” replied the soldier “We won’t break it unless we fire the big stuff!”

“You won’t break anything by blowing up trees, boy.” said Henricks. He grabbed a camera shell and handed it to the soldier. “Use this.”

They loaded the shell, fired it, and all watched the video from it as it streaked down towards the fort, before shattering on one of the outer walls in a shower of formerly valuable electronics.

“Okay.” said Henricks, pulling up a map on the crew’s Dataholder. “You fired at here, and it landed here. That tells you exactly the wind correction you need, and…” he flipped back to the video from the camera shell “...it looks like this point was weakened by an earlier shell.”

The targeter recalibrated the gun to hit the weak point, and they fired another Hellmelter shell. Someone enthusiastically grabbed a new Hellmelter to load, but Henricks stopped him.

“Check if you were successful.” he said, handing the person a camera shell instead. “Hellmelters are expensive. You want to make every shot count.”

They fired the camera shell and watched the video as it shot downwards. The crew sighed when they saw the weakened spot hadn’t been breached.

“No, look.” said Henricks “There’s more charring and a deeper crater now, and I think there are cracks there. Now that you’re actually focusing on a point, you can really start damaging it. Fire again.”

[Illan]

Kyr'vil'sar' Vi'Saris
Fort Meca

Kyr, the "commander" of the ground team, more or less, simply walked with them as they did. They were formally lead by Captain Miua, of course, but it seemed the Aqualis gained some form of command over them in the field. Unexpected, really, but he didn't mind. He was a good leader when he was asked to be.

He approached the Fort with the others, walking with them. Eventually, everyone went off to do their own thing, leaving Kyr to his vices. Except, he wasn't one to engage in said vices on a job, a mission. Instead, he decided to follow and catch up with the Gaian commander, speak to him about the situation. Learn just what was going on.

And maybe take down a bit of the enemy.

"Commander.....I was hoping you could tell me a bit more of just what we're going up against." The Aqualis said, in a very distinctive voice that could be easily identified as his race. He wore his usual black and cloaked armor, save for the helmet. That could be equipped at will; it was technically built into the armor. You just needed to press a button and is converged from the neck and around his head, and vice versa.

"I mean, what do these rebels have? Armaments? What are their tactics?" The Aqualis asked, trying to clarify.

"Well, their firepower is about the same as ours. The only thing really keeping them off our asses is the artillery cannons. As for tactics, it's mostly hit and run....what's your name? I didn't catch it."

"It's Kyr, Kyr Varis. At least, that's what most people called him." Kyr replied. It was damn good he wore his armor over his chest, he didn't want anyone to see the Blackwatch sigil he had on him. Most people would shoot him as soon as they saw it....or worse.

"Ah, I'm Commander Dixon. I run part of this Fort, whatever that stands for now." The Gaian said, emerging onto the ramparts with the artillery cannons and various soldiers holding off a few rebel stragglers below. "Think you could help us out with a few of these bastards? They won't let off. I saw that rifle on your back there."

The Aqualis couldn't help but smile a bit. Another prospect to try out his rifle skills, and seemingly for a good purpose. Kyr took the rifle off his back, and when he held it, the barrel extended and a scope emerged from the top of it. "It would be my pleasure, Dixon." He said, crouching down to one knee and setting the rifle on the wall of the ramparts. He aimed down the scope, took a breath, and pulled.

Several meters away, the Gaian rebel fell the ground.

Kyr wasn't finished, not close. He repeated; he kept looking through the scope, took a breath, and pulled the trigger. One more fell to the ground.

"Good shooting there, I don't see many of your kind, y'know. Much less those who can use a rifle." Dixon said out, crossing his arms and watching the Aqualis work.

"I try my best." He responded with a brief and quiet laugh, before resuming his "work".

[Zeinbrad]

Time skip to the sewers.

The sound of rap music became clear as the Wao warriors and GDF marines stealthy move through the sewers of Fort Meca. The music became louder and louder the lyrics clearer as the squad stopped at a wall, a light shining just a few meters to their right. It was the source of the music, with two rebels eating a meal, their slugthrowers at their sides, they clearly didn't care about their job, thinking that no one would know about the sewers.

Unless your the Wao of the Bessie, with their captain Miua making sure to have proper intelligence before making a move that could prove costly. Two marines aimed at the rebels, fired hitting the two rebels who fell back out of there chairs, making a quite thud.

"Go" The Team Leader* ordered as the Wao warriors and marines quickly but quietly moved to what the rebels were suppose to be guarding-a door leading to the weapon systems. Now all the Wao and marines had to do was fight their way to the weapons system and disable this, crushing the rebellion.


*-Illans character if he wants

[The Moon States]

Aria was going through one of the hallways leading up to the main rebel fort. Not needing to necessarily follow the orders of the Bessie since she wasn't an official part of her crew so she didn't need to go through the sewers, always grateful for small graces she waited for the bulk of the Wao forces to make a ruckus before moving quickly to disable any heavier armaments the rebels might have.

Both motion sensed and quick cloak device helped Aria make her way through a fissure in the forts armor made through some lucky shells punching correctly through. Now that the Wao were in the sewers the shells have stopped coming in but Aria was sure they'd start again once a certain time frame was up or the Bessie's CO gave a fire order so she needed to hurry and tried to locate the heavy weapons room and throw a thermobaric charge into the armory. Hopefully the assault would go off without a hitch but that was never the case in any operation there was always some hiccup to the operation and all Aria could hope for was that it wasn't something major.

[Post War America]

Ty'Lissa watched as the two spasmodically went down. They were fools, guarding their most critical asset in a most questionable fashion. They payed the price with their lives. Ty'Lissa watched and waited for the command to get into position. When given that order, she shut the music off, given the thickness of the door, they would be unable to hear, and the silence would be welcome relief, the guttural music brought pain to heir ears, in fact most music did that. The Metraxi had nothing but the harsh cold wins of their home world too listen to, and hearing this loud music was a jarring transition, even after three decades it still was.

After doing that little task, Ty'Lissa rushed to the door. Given her specialty in combat she typically took point, cutting down foes quietly, before the shooting began. Her small size made sneaking about easier as well, though having to jump to slit some bastard's throat was still a pain. She crouched in position ready to go. She pulled out the standard blade and Planet Razer, and uttered words.

"Velakas shisobi anei xaliena".

It was a Metraxi Battle Prayer, something always said before battle, a cry to the Metraxi War god Velakas to bring her victory, in the coming battle. She pressed the activation runes on her blades. They emitted a low humming sound, indicating that they were on, and therefore capable of cutting through armor. She looked to the breacher awaiting the opening of the door.

[Harbertia]

Karn didn't like large groups; they make too much noise, and are too big a target. Like a stamped of hooved prey they sought to ram their targets. Karen, preferred to work alone. She knew her purpose, even if the others did not.

As Ty'Lissa uttered words foriegn to the Haound, Karen like her poised, she waited for the breach. Knowing that behind the doors would be further sludge heads, thick skulled brutes for the others to handle, while she would use their rush as cover to enter the ventilation system. Of course, she'd contribute with the Carbine till the passage way behind the door was cleared.

[Congreveopia]

“Yes, because what are non-lethal weapons for anyways?” muttered Henricks walking over to one of the corpses and rummaging through the rebel’s pockets. “Certainly not for taking down inexperienced, low-ranking, enemy soldiers while having the element of surprise and vastly superior firepower. Nooo.” He found what he was looking for and pulled out the rebel’s datacall.

It was locked with a password. He tried a couple common ones, and then got locked out for an hour for making too many guesses. He grabbed the other rebel’s datacall. Fortunately, this one was locked with a fingerprint scanner. He held the dead rebel’s thumb to it and it unlocked. He plugged a cable from his shell into the universal port near the bottom, then he worked with the datacall for a bit, scanning the rebel’s thumb a few more times before he got access to download all its files. He flipped through some of them quickly, but didn’t see anything obviously important like a map or secret orders.

He unplugged the phone and put it back on the rebel. He then called the Bessie and said “Okay, I’m uploading the files to you from a rebel’s datacall. There are definitely images and videos from the fort here, and probably more stuff, but I don’t have the processing power or time to look through it all. See if you can update our maps with this stuff, and maybe figure out a list of possible usernames and passwords for this guy in case I find one of their computers or something.” He stood up and got ready for the breach, making sure to keep a few bullet sponges between him and the doorway.

[Len Hyet]

"All are equal my friend" Xiang said, following behind Henricks. "It does not matter if they are cannon fodder or the general of an army, our enemies deserve death. Especially these enemies." He glared through his helmet at the corpses, barely containing the urge to spit. Species traitors, the lowest of the low. Rebelling while their government was trying to keep them from ending up under the thumb of an oppressive galactic empire made them the lowest of the low.

Lung Tien Xiang slapped a breaching charge against the door, pulled the detonator from his armor, and looked at Henricks.

"If you've got a way through the door without blowing it, now's the time."